My gratitude diary. My happiness jar. A small list of things that have enriched some moments making them memorable and my life that much more enjoyable. Time to thank and celebrate each one of them...
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Saturday, 13 December 2014

Theatre - One of my true loves

Watching a good play is possibly the
most unbeatable experiences, and the BEST way to spend an evening. And mix this
with great friends, lovely food and you are living life to its best

But for me, even more special and
the best experiences I have had have been in my favourite city Mumbai (yes,
that one's coming soon)

For me the theatre scene in Mumbai
is possibly the best (though I suspect Delhi gets better thanks to the NSD) and
the absolutely lovely ambience.

I had been actually wary of plays
and the stage as a kid, and in fact don't have too many happy memories. My
dad was actively performing at amateur plays done by the community association.
He would perform in Kannada, Konkani plays mostly and sometimes I would attend
his rehearsal - but perhaps I was too young, or too close - it never felt like
something fun or a great experience.

during school I was this scaredy
lonesome kid, who got dragged into being one of the 'atmospheric people' in one
of the plays (Shakespeare - can you beat it!) and that was again a scaredy
experience - as my heart was beating at high octane speed and I just wanted
this to end. We were also all wearing these terribly dirty wigs which
made us scratch our heads for a week.

Anyway I had forgotten all about
theatre and would have preferred a good dinner or a movie (or better
still a book) - till one of my friends introduced this to me.

I have a ticket for a play which one
of his clients was sponsoring - he was in client servicing in
advertising. And to be honest, I really don't remember the play - however
what I remember is the experience. This was in South Mumbai where we worked. So
we left early from our offices and met at the Tata theatre at NCPA – one majestic
building (and in those days, recently refurbished – looked fabulous).OK I think I remember – the play was this Marathi-hindi-English
combination plays – true to the spirit of Mumbai, and had Boman Irani and
another popular Marathi actor, with other prominent theatre and TV
personalities.

The play was OK (though we saw this
again – don’t know why) – the experience was amazing, purely because of all the
contradictions.This was one fabulous
venue – right out of what should be in New York, and the folks included both
HiSo as well as senior executives and of course the different celebrities.But the contradictions were interesting – the
food was accessible and affordable by two management trainees (payscales those
days were ridiculously low) – and the celebrities and HiSo were fairly
tolerant, well behaved and didn’t throw too many airs – most in fact didn’t look
spectacularly glamorous or welldone.The
evening was wonderful and we walked back to churchgate through the marine drive
and had one of those cheap dinners in one of the small restaurants (Mathura
diary farm I think – now closed)

But I was hooked – and boy, it was
wonderful. So I do need to thank my friend "J" for helping me by reintroducing
the lovely theatre.Only most of the
plays I saw with him in Mumbai and Bangalore were mostly sex farces or the
popular mass segment ones. (yes, that’s me sounding high nosed and all hoity
toity)

Yes – because once I was introduced
to the good stuff – boy, it was just incredible, and I will share my
experiences of the incredible ones.

And Why Mumbai?

Mumbai – because its my alltime
favourite city.But it has this
accessibility which I find hard to describe.

I saw plays in London, Washington,
Singapore, Dubai and of course the different cities in India.The plays abroad were unaffordable. (the only
one which I loved was an improve session at the kennedy centre and of course,
the mouse trap).

But in the other cities
it felt stifling as the play was secondary.

For e.g. in Dubai – most folks would
have their mobile phones on – walk in after the play had begun – one I think
even lit up and smoked (turned out to be one socialite who the hosts couldn’t be
rude to).Didn’t particularly love it.

Not in Mumbai.

Most folks are serious – and the
city demands it.For you to take out
time to go home late, or even travel half way through the city is killing.It’s a choice you make, so it better be worth
it. Most folks are fairly well behaved – and this particularly for the SERIOUS
stuff.

I tried avoiding the popular mass
segment plays – purely because of this. The crowd was very similar to the ones
I had experienced in Dubai. Most were just taking an outing with their family,
or friends and the play really didn’t matter.

The other of course, is the
different theatres I fell in love with. My favourites were the Tata at NCPA and
of course Prithvi which was magical (in those days the ethereally lovely
Sanjana Kapoor would come and sit on the stairs in the passageway once the play
had begun – and she was incredibly stunning – that was the bonus). Prithvi also
had this lovely café outside which sadly was mostly crowded. But the reason we
preferred prithvi was they had this special scheme where the weekdays the rates
for the plays were ridiculously low, and this shot up to five or even ten times
the price on weekends – practically unaffordable.

In Mumbai the good thing also was
that the market allowed serious, experimental plays to be allowed – from celebrity
as well as new emerging players.This
would not be possible for e.g. in Bangalore where no one would sponsor or
invest in ‘different’ or upcoming artists work.

Mumbai is one place where all the different P's of a good theatre culture come together: Professionalism, Patronage and Passion. No other city can afford great professionals working with such passion and working this hard with such killer commutes and difficult working conditions, and as for patronage its key. gone are the days when theatre was seen to be the platform for a bigger film career or a lucrative occupation - not when it is easier to get into TV or modelling (with zero talent, if I can add bitchily here) or better career options that are less labourious. Its passion which drives the professionals in Mumbai who take out time to rehearse and sacrifice better paying options (cinema, TV etc.) and then give a performance which will move the audience far better than any movie or other can do.The different times I have stayed in
Mumbai has given me some rich experiences – and I shall share some of my
favourites on this page soon….

POST SCRIPT: This excerpt from Naseeruddin Shah's memoir "And then One Day..." describes theatre best :

"...And I have since steadfastly believed that the only magic that happens in this world happens on the stage. Films take you captive, they feed you everything on a plate, the legerdemain they create transports you into a state where you may as well be dreaming, but theatre takes you into a world where your imagination is stimulated, your judgement is unimpaired, and thus your enjoyment heightened. It is only in the theatre that there can be this kind of exchange of energies between actor and audience. The finest definition of theatre that I have come across is 'one actor - one audience'. Implying of course that any meaningful interaction between two people anywhere fits the definition of ideal theatre, with the same qualities needed of both participants as are required from them in an actual theatre. Thetre really is a one-on-one experience".